MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Three Russian weightlifters were issued suspensions of up to eight years after they had been found guilty of performance enhancing drugs abuse, a senior official with the Russian Weightlifting Federation (RWF) told TASS on Tuesday.

Aleksey Kosov (under 94 kg category) and Olga Afaniasieva (under 69 kg category) were each handed by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspension terms of four years, while Olga Zubova (under 75 kg category) was disqualified for eight years.

"Kosov and Afanasieva were handed a four-year suspension, while Zubova received an eight-year ban because she violated anti-doping regulations for the second time," RWF Vice President Alexander Petrov said in an interview with TASS.

According to reports earlier in the day, Russian weightlifter Aleksey Lovchev, the gold medalist of the 2015 World Championships in Houston, had been also suspended by the IWF for four years over violations of anti-doping regulations.

"As you already know Lovchev was banned for four years," Petrov said. "As far as I know, only Lovchev decided to file an appeal against the IFW decision on his disqualification."

Late last December Lovchev, a world record holder in over 105 kg category, was temporarily barred from competitions on the suspicion he was in breach of anti-doping rules.

His A-sample collected at the World Championships in Houston tested positive for banned substance ipamorelin. His B-sample was opened later at a laboratory in Montreal and it also tested positive.

Lovchev told TASS on Tuesday that he disagreed with the decision of the IFW to ban him for four years and voiced intention of filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.